When it comes to calling customer service and successfully reaching a live agent, Rob McDougall knows all the tricks. The CEO of Upstream Works Software, which provides omnichannel contact center solutions, is no stranger to pressing “zero” repeatedly when met with automated call options. 

He knows that saying “agent” over and over can redirect the line. 

But when McDougall called an airline's customer service line recently, none of those tricks worked. He told CX Dive that he was directed through five or six submenus before being put through to a live agent.

“They had put up what I would call, ‘speed bumps,’ in the way of getting to an agent to try and cut down on that traffic,” McDougall said. 

Using interactive voice response, known as IVR, to whittle down the number of callers is a common tactic across industries. Zendesk’s 2024 trends report found 60% of consumers report being frequently transferred to another agent or department when they call customer service.

The reasons for these layers of service are financial, Dale Renner, CEO of consultancy Redpoint Global, said in an email. McDougall agreed, explaining that large call volumes create demand for more agents, which companies would rather not pay for. 

There are costs to having too many speed bumps, however. 

“A customer frustrated by their inability to connect with a live person or a live interaction that went poorly is potentially a long-tail disaster,” Renner said. 

Behind the bumps

IVR came onto the scene in the early 2000s, McDougall said. And it successfully reduced the workload for call center agents, as well as the time customers spend on hold. 

Initial IVR-based interactions get the more administrative tasks out of the way, such as names and account numbers. As McDougall said, having live agents go through these steps is not a good use of their time. The next set of IVR dialogue is typically geared toward pushing customers to other automated or digital channels, whether it's a website or chat. These “speed bumps” deflect about 15% of incoming call traffic from live agents, McDougall said.

“Having a person on the phone in a contact center is the expensive option,” McDougall said. 

The technology and telecommunications infrastructure in a call center generally makes up about 30% of costs, he said. The remaining 70% stems from human resources expenses. 

But IVR doesn’t need HR.

Customers have “cautiously” been open to chatbots, messaging and email, according to Zendesk’s report. But phone calls are still the preferred contact method for both general issues and more complex problems, the report said. 

In situations like McDougall’s call to the airline, a phone call is sometimes the only option. He wouldn’t have dialed in if he could have resolved his issue another way. 

Customers don’t typically expect to be connected to a live agent immediately — they go into the call understanding the potential hoops they may have to jump through. Zendesk found customers expect a higher level of customer service over the phone. And when that doesn’t happen, it can negatively affect CX and, ultimately, business. 

If a customer has a negative experience with a call center, there’s a chance that anecdote will spread far and wide.

“Customers will turn to social media and review sites to memorialize their bad experiences for all the world to see,” Renner said. The worst case is that may encourage others with similar experiences to vocalize them or deter people from patronizing that business, he said. 

Getting ahead of the call

Despite the threat of dented loyalty and satisfaction, the case for improved call center operations can be a tough one to make to the C-suite. Businesses usually don’t have the data needed to prove one bad phone call led to the loss of a customer, McDougall said. 

Plus, reporting from different customer service channels can be siloed he said

There might not be a record of a customers’ full journey from chat to call, including if they're speaking with multiple agents — sometimes from multiple departments. 

“You have to be able to tie all that stuff together,” McDougall said. “But most people can’t provide that level of reporting.”

The Zendesk study found that just 2 in 5 CX leaders said they planned to increase their budgets for phone support in 2024. But, of those who see significant return on investment from CX tools, 54% are more likely to be actively exploring how to better integrate voice and digital channels. 

If an agent on the phone can reference a chat the customer had, it can help build confidence in the chat, McDougall said. And if more people have more trust in digital channels, that can help divert call traffic before the call is even made. 

Renner agreed that keeping people off the phone is perhaps the most effective way to mitigate frustrating phone experiences. Responding to customer signals in real time across all engagement channels can help companies do that. 

“Actively listening for customer signals is important for delivering a personalized CX, but it’s the unified customer profile that infuses those signals with the contextual understanding that a brand needs to respond with the right offer, content or message at the moment of interaction,” Renner said, “long before it gets to a frustrated live agent call.”